МИСТЕЦЬКА ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ОПЕРНОЇ ТА КАМЕРНОЇ СПІВАЧКИ ІВАНКИ МИГАЛЬ (КАНАДА)

Abstract

The article recounts the creative heritage of Ivanka Myhal, Ukrainian mezzo soprano singer who was the first Ukrainian solo singer at Met Opera in New York City among other Slavic artists of the Canadian Opera Company. The author provides a description of Ivanka Myhal’s concert performances, opera productions, repertory, and also elaborates on the importance of her creative personality to the overall creative heritage of Ukrainian imigrants in the second half of the 20th century.The coterie of renowned Ukrainian imigrants who have managed to excel in sundry realms of activity but were unable to return to their homeland includes Ivanka Myhal, alumnus of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (solo singing class), the Opera School of the University of Toronto (professor Ernesto Vinci’s class), the Summer Music School in Aspen, Colorado, and of the New York Metropolitan Opera Workshop.She started her career as a singer back in 1957 in Toronto as she was performing with the celebrated Leslie Bell Singers choir. She was a feature at numerous musical festivals across Canada and the States, and was also performing with symphonic orchestras in Toronto, Detroit, and Baltimore and in other places on the continent. On the 19th of January, 1970, Ivanka Myhal debuted in Die Zauberfl?te by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a solo singer at New York Metropolitan Opera, having performed eleven parties in various opera performances. Wherever she was performing – be it in Stratford, Toronto, Minneapolis, Detroit, Thunder Bay, New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Paris or elsewhere-the finale of each and every concert of hers featured a classical Ukrainian musical work – and she sang Ukrainian folk songs and romances as encore. Her repertory featured works by Mykola Lysenko, Semen Hulak-Artemovskiy, Kyrylo Stetsenko, Vasyl Barvinskiy, Yakiv Stepoviy, Andriy Hnatyshyn, Platon Mayboroda, Mykhaylo Verykivskiy, and other composers. In 1978, she recorded a vinyl disc of Ukrainian folk songs and romances at World Records studio. Ivanka Myhal made the top ten best singers worldwide. Her creative heritage inspires artists to create poetical and musical works and shall undoubtedly serve as a good example of dedication to one’s native musical culture for the future generations of Ukrainian young people.